Section III · International rollout · Last reviewed 2026-05-24
Athena Forum (EU)
A Brussels-based platform that documents how EU institutions and the Council of Europe are entrenching gender-identity policy — and how that pressure shapes national clinical practice.
Summary
While clinical reviews in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland and Norway have moved away from the affirmative model, EU-level policy continues to push the opposite direction. Athena Forum (founded 2025) tracks this divergence in legal terms — through the EU LGBTIQ Strategy, the Council of Europe conversion-therapy resolutions, and the Court of Justice case law.
Why this matters for the Dutch Protocol
The Cass Review (2024), SBU (2022) and COHERE Finland (2020) reach the same conclusion: the evidence underpinning routine medical transition for minors is too weak to support standard practice. Athena Forum documents how — despite this — EU-level instruments codify the affirmative model as a human-rights baseline. The Brussels case is being made at the moment the clinical case is collapsing.
For the Netherlands this is direct: the current Dutch position remains anchored to EU policy frames, even as Sweden, Finland, the UK and Norway have withdrawn. Athena's policy briefs give Dutch lawmakers, clinicians and journalists the documentation that the EU framework — not the science — is doing the work.
Key publications
- Beneath the Surface — How Gender Identity Ideology Is Reshaping Europe (February 2026). The flagship report on institutional capture in EU bodies.
- Policy Brief: The EU LGBTIQ Strategy (October 2025). Analysis of the 2020-2025 Strategy and its national implementation.
- Athena Brief: EP Resolution on EU Gender Equality Strategy (November 2025). Critique of the resolution that substitutes gender identity for sex.
- Briefing: A Deceptive Label on Conversion Therapy Bans (January 2026). How the legal definition is widened to criminalise exploratory therapy.
- Statement on UK Supreme Court ruling (October 2025). Response to the Council of Europe Commissioner's letter on For Women Scotland.
- Lesbian Erasure in Europe — UN SOGI submission (January 2026). How sex-based orientation is being written out of EU policy.
Recent analyses
- Advocacy visit to Brussels — End of no debate (May 2026)
- Orbán's bans and the CJEU ruling (April 2026)
- Ireland's leading role in European gender-identity politics (March 2026)
- EU-funded research should not defame women's rights (March 2026)
- The new human-rights industry (February 2026)
- The European Trans Women Vote (February 2026)
- Pushing conversion-therapy bans across Europe (January 2026)
- Men in women's prisons — Germany (January 2026)
- Development without women — the aid sector (December 2025)
- Latvia's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention (December 2025)
Related on this site
- Comparative table — countries that have reviewed practice vs. those that have not.
- Worldwide status 2025 — overview as of last year.
- Evaluations — overview — the systematic reviews Athena cites.
- Legal cases — the litigation landscape Athena tracks at EU level.
- International guidelines — the primary documents.
Sources
- Athena Forum. Beneath the Surface — How Gender Identity Ideology Is Reshaping Europe. Brussels; February 2026. athena-forum.eu
- Athena Forum. Policy Brief — The EU LGBTIQ Strategy. October 2025. athena-forum.eu
- Athena Forum. Athena Brief — EP Resolution on EU Gender Equality Strategy. November 2025. athena-forum.eu
- Athena Forum. Briefing — A Deceptive Label on Conversion Therapy Bans. January 2026. athena-forum.eu
- Athena Forum — home, resources, updates and media library. athena-forum.eu
This page draws on the public publications and sitemap of Athena Forum (athena-forum.eu). The cited reports and analyses remain the property of their authors and the publishing organisation.